1888 in Germany

← 1887 1886 1885 1888 in Germany → 1889 1890 1891
Decades:	1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
See also:	Other events of 1888 List of years in Germany

Events in the year 1888 in Germany.

Incumbents

Events

• 9 March — Emperor Wilhelm I dies at the age of 90 in Berlin. He is succeeded by his oldest son Friedrich Wilhelm, who becomes Friedrich III.
• 16 April — The German Empire annexes the island of Nauru
• 15 June — Wilhelm II becomes German Emperor after the death of his father, Friedrich III.
• August — In early August 1888,^[1] without her husband's knowledge, Bertha Benz, with her sons Richard (aged 14) and Eugen (aged 15), drove in Benz's newly constructed Patent Motorwagen No. 3 automobile, from Mannheim to her own birthplace, Pforzheim, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over more than a very short distance
• 13 December — Heinrich Hertz presents his report on the discovery of electromagnetic radiation to the Berlin Academy of Sciences
• Date unknown - Karl Benz, inventor of the modern automobile, had to receive written permission driver's licence from the Grand Ducal authorities to operate his car on public roads in 1888

Literature

• 'Theses on Feuerbach' by Karl Marx published posthumously

Music

• Johannes Brahms — Violin Sonata in D Minor (opus 108)
• Max Reger — String Quartet in D minor (with double bass obbligato; without op.) (1888-9)
• Joseph Rheinberger — Organ Sonata No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 154
• Richard Strauss
  • Don Juan, Macbeth (first version)
• Carl Maria von Weber's opera Die drei Pintos completed posthumously by Theodor Hell

Sport

• Establishment of association football clubs BFC Germania, TGM SV Jügesheim and KBC Duisburg

Miscellaneous

• First buildings of the Berufsgenossenschaftliches Universitätsklinikum Bergmannsheil opened

Births

Deaths

References